The present invention relates to a plug of the “over connector” type for mounting on at least one cable having at least one optical conductor, and also to a receptacle configured to be connected to the plug.
The invention applies to a plug having at least one optical channel and mounted on a cable including at least one optical conductor, such a plug being used for example in telecommunications installations such as relay antennas for mobile telephony, in broadband data transmission networks for domestic or industrial use, for networks of monitoring cameras, or indeed for data transmission in railway installations. When such a plug is mounted on a cable, they may be referred to together as an active cable assembly.
It is known to use optical plugs having an optoelectronic converter provided with connection means of the kind described for example in European patent application EP 0 726 477, and also known as “transceiver” means. In known plugs, the optoelectronic converter is carried by a receptacle connected to a printed circuit card, e.g. as described in application WO 2009/100796.
Because of the arrangement of the optoelectronic converter in the receptacle, it can happen that the heat generated in the optoelectronic converter is not dissipated in satisfactory manner. Furthermore, an outlet from the optoelectronic converter is for connection to one or more optical contacts carried by a plug. Making a connection between optical contacts and the optoelectronic converter can be made more difficult because it implies connecting together a receptacle and a plug.
Furthermore, incorporating the optoelectronic converter in the receptacle makes it more difficult to have manual access to the device for unlocking the optical contacts of the plug. It can then be found necessary to have recourse to a device that makes it possible to synchronize unlocking of the optical contacts with unlocking of the plug.
In addition, with a receptacle having an optoelectronic converter incorporated therein, it can be difficult to obtain satisfactory alignment between the electrical interface of the plug and that of the receptacle, in spite of the tolerances specified by the manufacturers.
It can also be found difficult to fit a receptacle with an incorporated optoelectronic converter presenting different optical interface standards, such as optical interfaces using LC or SC optical contacts.
There exists the need to benefit from a connection system that uses a transceiver while remedying the above-mentioned drawbacks of the prior art in full or in part.